Michael Moore wins big

last updated 8 January 2015

Cannes

American filmmaker Michael Moore won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this week for Fahrenheit 9/11, a brutally critical documentary on President Bush’s policies since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Critics accused the jury of turning the festival into a political soapbox, but the head juror, director Quentin Tarantino, said the unanimous decision was based solely on the film’s cinematic merits. It was the first time the top award had gone to a documentary since 1956. Moore said the award was more than a reflection of French animosity toward Bush, since four of the nine jurors were American, and one was British. “More than half came from the coalition of the willing,” he said.